The final hours are counting down before Donald Trump takes the oath of office at his (indoor) inauguration and then retakes office as America’s 47th president. On Sunday, after sort of saving TikTok, he paid a somber visit to Arlington National Cemetery before his big victory rally at the Capitol One Arena. Meanwhile, his team continues to talk up all the sweeping executive orders he’ll sign right after the inauguration. Below are live updates on the latest pre-inauguration news and events, as well as what to expect during and after the inauguration itself.
Here’s an incomplete list, per Fox News, of what the Trump team says those orders will accomplish:
This victory rally was for the most part just a rehash of a big Trump campaign rally — like the one he held at Madison Square Garden in late October — with many of the same beats, speakers, public grievances, and music. Except this one had the Village People live:
Two alarmed experts sounded off to the Washington Post:
Jordan Libowitz, a senior vice president at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington who studies crypto, said the coin reflected the extent to which Trump could seize on “every government lever in his reach to make money for himself.”
Norman Eisen, a former White House ethics adviser during the Obama administration, said that, out of all of Trump’s conflicts as a businessman turned president, this “may be the most profound.”
“He’s launching a major, new multibillion-dollar venture in the burgeoning crypto industry, where he has the most profound conflict of interest between [what] he’s seeking to gain and his duties to regulate that industry — which now includes himself,” Eisen said. “This may represent the single worst conflict of interest in the modern history of the presidency.”
Eisen also noted that foreign governments could buy into the meme coin, raising its value and enriching Trump’s wealth, thereby violating the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution.
No surprise:
Trump launched his own official meme coin on Friday and it quickly skyrocketed in marketcap. On Sunday, the once and future First Lady announced one too (and Trump quickly retweeted it).
Immediately after the announcement, the value of $Trump started to fall precipitously.
Again, it’s not clear how long TikTok’s reprieve can or will last, per the law:
Steve Witkoff, who worked with the Biden administration and Israel to help arrange the new ceasefire agreement with Hamas, got a standing ovation at Trump’s victory rally:
On Sunday morning, Politico reported that Vivek Ramaswamy might leave his leadership role in Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency quasi agency. The report cited both Ramaswamy’s expected gubernatorial bid in Ohio as well as tensions between him and Musk:
The breakdown of labor between Musk and Ramaswamy, according to one person familiar, was that Musk focused on the big picture while Ramaswamy focused on deregulation; the rest of the staff will focus on implementation. Steve Davis, Musk’s right hand man at SpaceX, functions as his DOGE lieutenant, while Brad Smith, a healthcare entrepreneur and Rhodes Scholar, is Ramaswamy’s main point of contact.
Privately, some in Trump’s world see Ramaswamy’s nascent gubernatorial campaign as a way to clear a path for Musk to do his own work at the agency without him. “Elon basically runs the show,” said an informal adviser to Trump. This person added, “Time is their biggest enemy. We’ll see.”
CBS News later reported that the conflict with Musk was a big problem:
People close to Musk have privately undercut Ramaswamy for weeks, frustrated with his lack of participation in the heavy lifting, according to sources familiar with the internal dynamics. There has been friction between the incoming rank and file DOGE staff and Ramaswamy, the sources said, and Ramaswamy has been subtly encouraged to exit. “Vivek has worn out his welcome,” one person close to Trump said.
The D.C. government informed residents Sunday there would be a military flyover on Monday for Trump’s inauguration, then soon after sent another message announcing it was cancelled.
Skipping the flyover makes sense if they are trying to keep people from assembling outside amid the dangerous cold temperatures.
The Capitol One arena is packed after supporters waited in long lines to gain entry. Soon after the event began, Kid Rock led the crowd in a “Let’s go Brandon” chant.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Miller, Trump’s incoming White House deputy chief of staff for policy, briefed a small number of senior GOP leaders Sunday afternoon about the administration’s plans. They include declaring a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, rescinding Biden administration directives on diversity, equity and inclusion and unwinding President Biden’s limits on drilling offshore and on federal land, Miller told the lawmakers, according to Capitol Hill Republicans briefed on the call.
Part of Trump’s efforts to overhaul the federal government will be aimed at rewriting hiring rules for employees and creating a new process for firing others. The president-elect will again sign an executive order, known as Schedule F, which he issued in October 2020 to eliminate job protections for federal workers, the Republicans said. The Biden administration had previously blocked the order. …
Besides the border-focused immigration orders, Trump’s advisers have also been planning immigration raids in several major cities during the first few days of the new administration, according to people familiar with the discussion. The cities that are expected to be targeted include Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, New York and San Antonio. The scale of the raids and the number of cities that will see increased enforcement activity remains in flux.
They are clearly trying to discourage people from gathering outside in the freezing temperatures:
This post has been updated.
